SCOBA bishops issued a statement this morning on same-sex unions; the
usual about it (even civil unions and any form of homosexuality)
being intolerable and somehow threatening the institution of marriage. In
reality, it is divorce which threatens the institution of marriage,
not homosexuals' desire for equal rights in society.

The bishops' latest statement (along with similar statements made on
behalf of other religions) constitutes ignoring our mandate to love God
and neighbor in favor of a secular homophobic ideology. Rather than this
being an upholding of Christian morality, one sees that in fact
fundamentalists of all the major religions - Christian, Jewish, Muslim,
Hindu - all are homophobic, as are many secular ideologues as well. It is
a cultural, secular and ideological manifestation of fundamentalism rather
than a pastoral, truly religious or theological response). To provide a
non-Orthodox example, the strong-arm tactics of Roman Catholic officials
threatening Dutch and Canadian officials (including Canadian Prime Minister
Jean Chretien) if they continue to uphold their countries' laws permitting
gay marriage, is sad and hardly a Christian response. However, it is
certainly not unprecedented in the church which protected the abusive
sexual practices of its clergy (actively obstructing efforts to bring them
to justice) while labeling loving same-sex relationships between
consensual adults as sinful. While the Orthodox do not seem to
have had to endure something of the same magnitude, it is really the same
un-Christian attitudes which have contributed to such scandals that have
occurred in the Orthodox Church -- such as the well-known late-1980's
scandal in Colorado, where the offending bishop got off scot free, while
the abused underage girl's family was bullied into silence. Since the
Orthodox Observer wanted only to stifle discussion of that scandal,
we had to rely on People magazine for the truth. Such is the
result of the bishops' misguided priorities in the area of sexuality; one
of whom's take on the scandal was said to be "At least it was a woman"
(wrong: it was an underage girl who had been abused; that is true
immorality, not a same-sex union between consenting adults).

Civil unions, gay marriage, adelphopoiia -- while these forms of
same-sex relationship all differ in the details, the common denominator is
two people loving each other and committed to each other for life. As
Christians we are called, first and foremost, to love God and love
neighbor. We should not make an idol out of the gender of the people
concerned, and act in hateful ways simply because true love can also be
expressed between those of the same sex. One should also consider the
detrimental effect of rigid gender-based ideologies on transgender
and intersex individuals. It is silly to expect all non-heterosexuals to
forego any kind of intimacy for life simply because some clergy have never
bothered to sincerely look at this issue and formulate a truly Christian
response, rather than a knee-jerk ideological one.

It should be noted that all their Biblical citations have been amply
addressed before; that the alleged Biblical condemnations of homosexuality
are in reality condemnations of various abusive practices (attempted rape,
idolatry, and inhospitality). The bishops do not address the quite
different issue of the relevancy (or lack thereof) of their pronouncements
on those in loving, committed relationships with their same-sex partner,
and certainly not those who have already entered into a union of
"adelphopoiia", an integral part of Orthodox tradition.

Meanwhile, the less "compassionate" Orthodox fundamentalists don't
merely call for automatic celibacy, but promote the so-called "ex-gay"
"ministries", which are famous for their deceptions and lack of "success"
in changing orientations, as well as lack of follow-up to even determine
whether any real change occurred. They should instead look at how many
people are driven to suicide by the constantly dashed false "hopes" which
these kinds of organizations pursue. Look in the Lives of the Saints -- how
many "ex-gay" conversions do you see? Zero. But on the feast day of the
"sweet companions and lovers" Saints Sergius and Bacchus (October 7th), we
Orthodox continue to sing: